Flourishing Period
he first ship leaving Texel in 1595 preceeded a flourishing period of about
200 years. Round 1625 the VOC employed 7,700 people and in 1750 there were
36,000 employees, 20,000 of whom worked at the European offices; an increase
of 500% in just a bit over a century. In 1780 the number had gone down to
28,250. From 1700 onwards the number of foreign employees increased considerably
and on many ships there were twice as many foreigners as Dutchmen.
